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| India-Pakistan |
| SC restrains magistrate from deciding Lakhvi bail plea |
| 2015-01-07 |
| [DAWN] The Supreme Court on Tuesday restrained a local magistrate from proceeding on the bail application of Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi -- the alleged criminal mastermind of Mumbai attacks -- until Wednesday, when the apex court will take up the government?s appeal against the suspension of Lakhvi?s detention. Also on Tuesday, the Islamabad High Court (IHC) issued notices to Lakhvi on the appeal filed by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA), seeking cancellation of bail granted to him by the ATC in the Mumbai attacks case. A magistrate in Islamabad had to give a decision on the bail application by Tuesday, but a two-judge Supreme Court bench, headed by Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja, stopped the judicial officer from passing any order until Wednesday. The court also issued notices to Lakhvi to answer the contention in the government?s appeal, to be served upon him through the Adiala Jail superintendent, where the accused is currently detained. The court issued the notice with the observation that since there was also an IHC order in favour of Lakhvi, the court was also cognizant of the requirements of the fundamental rights of its citizens. ?We will be lost if we deviate from the constitution,? Justice Khawaja observed. In a joint appeal, the secretary interior on behalf of the federal government, district magistrate Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) and Islamabad senior superintendent of police, had sought the annulment of the Dec 29, 2014 IHC order, suspending Lakhvi?s detention orders. On Tuesday, Attorney General Salman Aslam Butt argued before the court that high court order was not sustainable in the light of earlier Supreme Court judgments and pointed out that Lakhvi was a member of the proscribed outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure,an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... (LeT) who was placed in durance vile Book 'im, Mahmoud! in a terrorism case. But the court observed that the allegations against Lakhvi regarding his involvement in the Mumbai attacks was not relevant to the present appeal, since the court was only concerned with the West Pakistain Maintenance of Public Order 1960, under which Lakhvi was currently detained. |
| Posted by:Fred |